8 Ways to Secure a Door From Being Kicked In

Kick in a door… The phrase itself conjures up images of pirates and ninjas. And it is common knowledge that if you have a well-built door, it will be difficult for someone to kick it in. But what about other ways of “securing” the door? Those are just as important as choosing a sturdy material for the door itself.

In this post, I will show you 8 ways to secure a door from being kicked in. While some are simple, others require some work. But all of them can be done by anyone with basic DIY skills and a few extra bucks for some tools.

These will prevent you from going through the trauma of burglary and losing your valuables with eight ways to secure your home door from being kicked in. By implementing one or a combination of these options will drastically improve the security of your home.

Ways to Secure a Door From Being Kicked In

Here are 8 ways to make sure your door is secure from being kicked in:

  1. Install a Nightlock.
  2. Strengthen the door frames with reinforced strike plates.
  3. Replace old locks with strike plate locks.
  4. Install a security bar.
  5. Use solid doors.
  6. Strengthen the door frame.
  7. Get a steel grill for your glass doors.
  8. Set up sensor lights.

 

Install A Nightlock

Night locks are easy to install and very effective to protect you and your family from intruders. You simply drill four holes into the floor wood/concrete with the right tapping bit size to create pilot holes for the screws provided with the product.

The way it works is you attach the bottom piece to your floor and slide the upper piece into place and you’re all set and secure. You can go off to bed knowing your door can withstand a heavy blow and isn’t going to budge.

For more of a visual presentation, feel free to watch this short video on the product.

As you’ll see in the video the Nightlock being installed and tested by kicking the door multiple times and yet no entry was gained by someone who knows how to kick a door in and has passed the test with great success.

 

Strengthen The Door Frames With Reinforced Strike plates

The reinforced strike plate is another effective home safety method to implement in your house, as it strengthens your door frame that the lock bolts go into to withstand multiple blows to the door.

This reinforced plate gives you, the homeowner, the upper hand without even having to be there at the given time because it puts up a good fight against any intruder.

It’s very easy to install reinforced strike plates and it only takes about 30 to 45 minutes to have a nearly impenetrable front and backdoor. If you not so comfortable working a drill, you could ask a family member or close friend for a little assistance.

Here’s a short video of the StrikeMaster II Pro on how it works.

Available here on Amazon, it’s a pretty small price to pay for a whole lot of security for your house and family.

 

Replace Old Locks With Strike Plate Locks

This method is for the homeowners that do not already have the strike plate locks installed.

I would suggest you replace or add the door locks with these, as they add a fair amount of safety and security and also have a variety of locks on Amazon to suit your needs.

Strike plate locks have longer and stronger screws to go into the door frame to provide tough resistance against forced entry.

Replacing all the door locks in the house with the strike plate locks will help in other cases like having an intruder in your home and needing to seek safety in the next room. Having this lock installed could mean the difference between that person getting a hold of you or not.

You’ll find these are very simple and easy to install into your house and will drastically reduce the chances of your door being kicked in.

 

Install A Security Bar

This is a great way to secure your home from within and is one of the best ways out there today. It is a strong steel bar that is placed across the door horizontally that can withstand any type of heavy impact inflicted on the door.

Usually, it’s hung on two lag bolts that are drilled into the wall next to the door on either side, very simple.

This is how it looks on Amazon.

For an added layer of protection, I would have two special brackets made that have two holes in each bracket instead of one that makes the hold of the brackets in the wall stronger.

In the middle of the bracket have a steel rod strong enough for the bar to hang on and a knob on the end so the bar can’t move in any way after being placed into position.

The modification idea above is purely my own idea of what I would do if I had to use the security bar method in my own house, just an extra precaution that I would take, there is nothing wrong with just using it without the extra holes.

 

Use Solid Doors

Securing all the rooms within the house with solid doors will go a long way in protecting you if a burglar manages to get through the first point of entry and will give you the chance to get to the next room which would then also have a fair amount of stopping power and you can make that 911 call if necessary.

Keep in mind we want to make it as tough as possible for the burglar to get away with any of your valuable items so by making sure each room has a solid door installed increases the chances of keeping everything safe.

It’s a good idea to have solid doors on rooms that have safes inside.

This also saves you time and money as you wouldn’t have to replace any items or locks after quick and easy break-ins.

 

Strengthen The Door Frame

Your door frame plays a key role in the strength of the door itself.

By strengthening the frame, it will increase the strength of the door, simply adding a door-reinforcing-kit to your entry, will create more of a challenge for the burglar. These reinforcements strengthen the entire frame of the door including the locking plates.

This method is a simple and quick home security improvement method indeed and is sure to set your mind at ease and allow you to have a good night’s rest knowing you and your home is safe.

If you need help to install, always make sure to use a trusted reputable company to do the job for you.

 

Get A Steel Grill For Your Glass Doors

Glass doors are easy targets as all the burglar needs to do is break the glass to gain access to the door locks and ultimately into your home.

Bolting down steel bars in front of the glass doors can solve the problem as many unprepared thieves won’t get through and the ones that do will spend a lot of time working on it. Safety grills may not look very nice but they look even worse through burglars’ eyes.

There are all kinds of designs that you can have, just make sure to have them fitted without gaps on the sides where crowbars could fit through.

 

Set Up Sensor Lights

How will sensor lights prevent your door from being kicked in you might ask? Bare with me and I’ll explain. It’s actually very simple when you put yourself in burglars’ shoes.

Sensor lights add a great amount of security to a property because it leaves the burglar with a doubtful mindset, not knowing whether there is someone at home or not. Even if they well aware that it’s just a sensor light, it causes a lot of unwanted attention for them.

Spooking them so much it sends the burglars off to the next target, leaving your property less likely to be broken into.

 

Conclusion: Ways to Secure a Door From Being Kicked In

In general, a burglar tries to gain access through the door by kicking it. They don’t kick the door more than 2 or 3 times. Unless they know they can take their time they will not bother wasting any time being caught.

If you implement one or two of these methods like installing reinforced strike plates and/or locks the chances of you being a victim of house burglary will decrease greatly.

The Nightlock as you can see in the video is the perfect product for when you want to be safe after locking your door at night and have a sense of security.

In the end, all of these methods are easy and simple to install and everyone wants to feel safe in their own home and protect their valuables.

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Author

Edward Clark
Edward Clark, with 15 years of hands-on experience, is a distinguished expert in smart locks and home security systems. He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a focus on Cybersecurity and is a member of the Electronic Security Association (ESA). His credentials include certifications from ASIS International, IAPP, CompTIA, NTS, and CEDIA. With expertise spanning risk management, electronic security, and data privacy, he's been featured in The Guardian, Forbes, Wired, and more. Edward's mission: guiding individuals toward secure homes using the latest technologies.

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